India captain Rohit Sharma is back after being rested for the ODI series against West Indies, and will now lead the side for the upcoming five-match T20I series starting Friday. Ahead of the series, Rohit addressed a press conference on Thursday, where he said that according to him, India was not playing orthodox cricket in the shortest format last year before the World Cup.
“We didn’t get results in the World Cup, that doesn’t mean we were playing bad cricket. And I don’t agree that we were playing conservative cricket, if you lose 1-2 matches in the World Cup If you look at the games played before the World Cup, we won 80 per cent of them. I don’t understand how you can win so many matches if you are conservative.” Rohit said.
“We lost the World Cup, but it can happen, but it doesn’t happen. We weren’t playing freely. Lately, it’s not like we’ve changed anything completely, we’ve seen players express themselves. If you play freely, performances will come. Outsiders should maintain peace, the way we are playing cricket, there will be failures and results will not be in our favour, but that’s okay. Because we are trying to do something. It may happen that mistakes happen but that doesn’t mean the players are bad. With time, everyone has to change, we are changing, so should the people outside needs to change.”
Asked if there are any places to be filled in the squad for the World Cup, Rohit said: “There are some places that we need to fill, but we also know what we need to do to fill them.” We will try to address them. On all issues in the coming matches, we want to give freedom to the people. We can talk about preparation and technique, but when the match comes, the players should be left alone, We want them to play like they do when they play for franchises or state teams. Our job is to take the pressure off, we are just trying to create an environment where people can play freely.”
“No, the composition is good, we have a good mix of players who can cover all aspects of the game. Some people have also been rested keeping in mind the workload. We also need to make sure. Make sure everyone is fresh, come the World Cup, we don’t want any injuries or swallows, we’re trying to manage as much as possible with all the players. So yeah, I think it’s important that people here Meet and get a chance to play against West Indies. We are looking forward to that challenge.”
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Lastly, talking about Paddy Upton as a mental conditioning coach, Rohit said: “He has got so much experience working with different teams in different places. His joining the team is what we Will help everyone. Definitely, he will bring the mental side. The game in the picture. He has worked with the Indian team before, he was a part of the 2011 World Cup winning team and has had a lot of success with franchise teams.”
“I think he has experience, he knows a lot of our players because he’s worked with them. As we know, the mental side of the game is really important, along with his ideology, I think It will help us. It was a good move to bring him in and let’s see what happens in the next few months. I am sure he will start his work, start talking to the players and get their views.”
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